It's easy to say that your primary focus should just be on making a good thing, but at the end of the day we'd all love to make money by doing something we enjoy doing and that's entirely logical. Hell, I'm actually an aspiring writer, so most of my life is about creating something that people would be willing to pay for - but it's hard to make that happen all by yourself if you hardly have anything to show for it.
Either way, I don't think it's a crazy thought and it's alright to wonder if you'll be able to monetize your comic in the long run, but I would just say to think about it later rather than sooner.

It's no problem. And point taken. It's an easy thing to dream about is all, making a living from something you love. That and after I tell people I'm writing a comic the next question is always "So how much money do you make from that?" or "How many have you sold?"

allentmatthews wrote:

But seriously, it's ok to want to make money from something you enjoy doing. Sure, statistically there are thousands of Webcomics being made and only the smallest percentage ever make any money, and an even smaller percentage are able to make a living from it, but as long as you enjoy what you're doing and keep trying to improve your art, there is no reason to think you won't eventually gain success. It just take a lot of hard work and dedication.

Right. My thinking is basically: It's free to list it for sale. My friends will want to buy it and I'M not subsidizing them and if someone else wants it great. If I'm putting it up for sale then I want to do it the right way. Once. And be done with it and move on with life. Cheers!

I took "cheap bastards" to be slangy forum chat rather than your definitive opinion of mankind (not that it's wrong!).

If the comic is finished and you are releasing a page at a time, it seems it couldn't hurt to offer the finished product for sale. But let's face it, it would have to be really compelling for a customer to shell out when they can wait for the pages to unfold for free, which is the format we're all used to anyway with webcomics. On the other hand, if you don't release pages for free no one will ever buy it sight unseen unless you're established with a huge fan base that knows and trusts your stuff. I think I'm just repeating everyone.

If the comic is finished and you are releasing a page at a time, it seems it couldn't hurt to offer the finished product for sale. But let's face it, it would have to be really compelling for a customer to shell out when they can wait for the pages to unfold for free, which is the format we're all used to anyway with webcomics. On the other hand, if you don't release pages for free no one will ever buy it sight unseen unless you're established with a huge fan base that knows and trusts your stuff. I think I'm just repeating everyone.

Exactly. It would be pretty ridiculous to make the comic sale only. I've then effectively spent a month slaving over something only three people and myself will ever see.

I'm considering upping the post rate to two pages a week. As it stands I have 6 months of pages backlogged and growing as I finish off the second issue. That seems like an absurd "cushion". At this rate people won't be able to read the second issue until next year. By that time the first arc will be long over and the second arc is considerably different. Almost like a different book. I dunno...